Amelanchier

Have sent one over to you. Bit longwinded to download, fill out & email back - so 2008! Have you tried online forms? SurveyMonkey: Free online survey software & questionnaire tool

Well thats becasue they are.

That's been my impression too. I wonder if I've specialised myself into a corner with Arb! Ecology is an interesting parallel though, there are even more rules and regs but from my perspective Ecologists are treated as useful professionals - would you agree? What's different?

I agree. I suppose every 'craft' trade has its stereotypes. I was aiming at the commercial end really I guess - how other professions see us. My experience is that we're a bit annoying. Its been our strategy to use the legislation to force our points and agenda and its been to our disadvantage.

I think that self importance is a coping mechanism! Napoleon syndrome if you like - overcompensationg for the percieved external opinion. You see I think most trees are managed just fine without specialist advice because most people don't manage them at all! I've often wondered whilst surveying tree number 36,216 in the rain along a roadside whether there is any statistically significant difference between the failure rate between whats left after i've been through and an unmanage equal population. I bet it aint much. I only mentioned the FC because they are an organisation with some clout (rightly or wrongly)!

I've been considering recently how we are percieved from outside and I guess we're a minority pressure group. Also, we're a bit lost really. Too many factions and associations, no direction no leadership. Importantly no presence and no marketing! Now I know we sit broadly in two camps on the 'talk. Camp A are in the game for the benefit of trees and Camp B quite like trees but do it for the euros. I'm in Camp A and I guess I'm addressing this to them (though not exclusively!). Do we have a overinflated sense of our own importance as part of the wider picture? Do non-arbs manage trees adequately without us? Why don't we get involved with the Forestry Commission? After all, they've got the money, they've got the national strategies for urban trees...

Hey, its all good. I disagee is all, but claims of certainty bring out the pedant in me... With regard to case law, P v B was along those lines but the additonal implication was that a "level 2" inspector (theres a needlessly confusing construct) would have found the small P. fraxinea bracket on the subject tree by scrabbling around in the bramble covered ditch whilst conducting a estate wide roadside survey. Many in the industry (included little old me) disgaree with the reasonableness of that. And actually the recent decision in Atkins v Scott suggests that sufficient experience in tree inspections without quals is perfectly acceptable in such instances so don't write yourself off! Tim doesn't have an ego, he's typically self depricating and humble

Ha Tim, am I ignorance or ego?

I'm not telling you what you know. I'm telling what you don't know because you haven't undertaken an investigation. The crack is not active because the crack is not changing. The adaptive growth is active as Mattheck describes in your quote above but the crack is not. It can't be because the cambium has grown over it! And there is the crux of my point - how serious is the crack in terms of the remainder of the tree? We don't know and we should admit that. We're allowed to do that you know! Many things are avoidable, what's important to the bloke in the silly wig is how reasonable it is to avoid it. In the situation you describe it may indeed be reasonable to remove the forseeable failure however, different tree / different place... In pragmatic terms - your recommendations are perfectly sensible and it's likley that I would spec some work also, but I wouldn't phrase my recommendations with the same confidence. I also wouldn't bother saying I'd followed the VTA criteria when I hadn't. Indeed, the weight of your statement to your theoretical court could be jepordised by the defence pointing out that your assessment of the tree was an educated guess rather than a detailed examination. After all - considering Poll v Bartholomew we should all be on our hands and knees in ditches checking for rare decay fungi on the underside of buttresses.

Yep that's great. However, it's all redundant without the remainder of the process (as you know?). We can all see the symptom of the defect. We can even be '100% certain' of the presence of a defect but thats not the important bit. The important bit is calculating the strength of the remaining parts! Now I've met arb after arb who will gleefully show me a symptom, some even confirm a defect but very few bother working out the relevance before speccing up some works. So you've probably got some cracks in your pine and your picture has perfectly illustrated the external symptom of the defect. But are the cracks serious or nothing to be fussed about? I dunno and neither do you without an investigation - they're certainly not active at the moment. It may be that given a set of circumstances, wandering past spotting the symptoms and felling the tree might be the reasonable thing to do. Then again it might not be, hence my comments. Hey who's not having fun? New guys get a tough time in proportion to their presence. The force must be balanced and in the same font size without my arse falling off with laughter.

100% likely huh? Thats pretty certain - did you drill or fell the tree? Or did you use magic xray specs to substantiate your large font size laughter? Why would I doubt it? Because I haven't confirmed it in line with VISUAL TREE ASSESSMENT. Duh. You see, your thread title is "VTA images" when in fact what you are showing/asking for is "defect symptom images" that would lead to progression through the 2nd and 3rd stage of VTA. Do you know what the third stage is...? I suppose your xray specs do that as well do they? Finally, who said anything about charging the client?

Just wondering as the second rule of VTA is [my emphasis in bold] "If a defect is suspected on the basis of symptoms, its presence or absence must be confirmed by a thorough examination." Now I agree, on the balance of probabilities, there are likely to be internal cracks relating to those helical ribs but I would have to follow the VTA process before making recommendations. Nice pic though.

Is that your answer to question 8974? "Do you think the AA should listen to Lee Winger?"

How do you know it had cracks? Did you drill/fell it?

Just read this document By the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council that was posted by Mike Ellison on UKTC. http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file51459.pdf Page 15 give an interesting synopsis of the external view of our professional bodies... Do we spend too much time focussing on tree hazards? Or is that just the nature of our role?

Me too, will PM if thats OK.

Interesting... Infill was a washed 20-40mm type 2 roadstone or similar aggregate w/ no fines? Was there a soil layer on top? Not being awkward - just having trouble visualising the waterlogging.

What tests did you do?

There are trees and then there are Trees. Conservation areas are designated for their character, a component of which is the tree population. So whilst it doesn't make the condition any stronger per se it does add weight to the arguement at the planning stage to retain them. I.e., they're a bit special. The other benefit (problem?) is that, should your vehicles / developers cause any damage, or your scaffolders get bow-saw happy, you would not only be in breach of the planning conditions (assuming they are worded appropriately) but under section 211(4) of the TCPA you would be committing an offence with the same penalties as a TPO breach. Eve Trakway do a heavy duty panel what you need, and I'd suggest some hi-vis timber box frames around exposed stems.

Hi Doc. I'm a bit worried about this mole on my skin. I think it could be serious... So, you don't agree? Not at all? Oh ok. I think I'll arrange to have it removed anyway, thanks for your advice. Fingers crossed its protected if it's any good.

David - we run the Hunter Herald 8 for all our home heating and bought a "wood-burning conversion kit" for £30 or so from Stoves, wood burning stoves, woodburning stove, multifuel stoves UK when we bought the unit. It consits of a replacement front section and some fire bricks. I haven't fitted it yet cos we can fit plenty of logs on, switch over to a bit of smokeless for night we we feel like it and the grate/ashpan make cleaning it out easier!

Ask your LPA. We have grant aid available for tree work to protected trees if the owner is over 60 or on benefits. We only grant to a maximum of £250 though so you might get one 25ft lime with that...

Fantastically mental! I love the idea of the $80,000 bond, really focuses the mind of the developer! Do you know what the terms were on that? Was it retained for death or damage? Great shots Drew.

I hope everyone has given comments to the AAAC consultation... Doesn't take very long.

74kgs - you have to push a lot of pencils to stay this pretty. Good thread chaps. The current mean average (not including those after Coolie) is 83.9 kgs. Don't mind me I'm doing a module on stats at the moment. The little graph below show us that we are normally distributed - i.e., not too many lightweights and not too many heavyweights! Yes. I know I should get out more.